Prince Aisin-Gioro Pujie (16 April 1907 – 28 February 1994) was the younger brother and heir of Puyi, the last emperor of China. In 1945, he was arrested for collaborating with the Japanese during World War II. He was released a year after his brother in 1960 and later joined the Chinese Communist Party.[1]

Pujie was the second son of Zaifeng and his wife Youlan. As a child, he was brought to the Forbidden City in Beijing to be a playmate and classmate to his brother Puyi. A well-known incident recounted how the young Puyi threw a tantrum when he saw that the inner lining of one of Pujie's coats was yellow in colour, as yellow was traditionally a colour reserved only for the Emperor.[2]

Pujie was first married in 1924 to a Manchu princess, Tángshíxiá (唐石霞), but they had no issue. He left his wife behind when he went to Japan for studies, and the marriage was dissolved some years later. After graduation from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, Pujie agreed to an arranged marriage with a Japanese noblewoman. Pujie selected Lady Hiro Saga (1914–1987), who was a relative of the Japanese Imperial Family, from a photograph from a number of possible candidates vetted by the Kwantung Army.[3] As his brother Puyi was without a direct heir, the wedding had strong political implications, and was aimed at both fortifying relations between the two nations and introducing Japanese blood into the Manchu imperial family.

The engagement ceremony took place at the Embassy of Manchukuo in Tokyo on 2 February 1937 with the official wedding held in the Imperial Army Hall at Kudanzaka, Tokyo, on 3 April. In October, the couple moved to Hsinking, the capital of Manchukuo, where Puyi was then the Emperor.

As his elder brother Puyi had no children, Pujie was regarded as first in line to succeed to the Manchukuo throne, and the Japanese officially proclaimed him as heir apparent. However, he was not appointed by his brother as heir to the Qing dynasty,[citation needed] as imperial traditions stated that a childless emperor should choose his heir from one of the next generations of the family[citation needed]. While in Manchukuo, Pujie served as honorary head of the Manchukuo Imperial Guards. He returned briefly to Japan in 1944 to attend the Army Staff College.

At the time of the collapse of Manchukuo during the Sovietinvasion of Manchuria of August 1945, Pujie initially attempted to escape to exile in Japan with his brother. However, as it became apparent that no escape was possible, he opted to return to Hsinking in an unsuccessful attempt to surrender the city to Kuomingtang forces of the Republic of China, rather than have the city fall into Russian hands.

Huisheng 慧生 (1939–1957) – H.H. Princess (Chün Chu Kung Chu) Huisheng, was born at Hsinking on February 1938 and educated privately and then studied at Gakushuin University. She was killed (murdered) on 10 December 1957 in what appears to have been a murder-suicide.

Husheng 嫮生 (born 1941) – H.H. Princess (Chün Chu Kung Chu) Yunsheng was educated privately and then studied at Gakushuin Women's University in Tokyo. She later married Kosei Fukunaga, a Japanese aristocrat employed in the automobile industry in Tokyo. She has five children.

In 1961, Pujie was reunited with his wife with permission by Chinese premier Zhou Enlai. The couple lived in Beijing from 1961 until her death in 1987.

Under the terms of a succession law adopted in 1937, Pujie, as the emperor's full brother, was heir when Puyi died in 1967. Pujie had no sons. When he died, the right of succession passed to his nearest male relative, namely Jin Youzhi, his half-brother.